Book: Filipino Popular Tales

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This whole family of stories is one well worth studying in
detail. Unfortunately the war has held up the appearance of
Bolte-Polívka's "Anmerkungen," Volume III, which is to contain
the notes to the Grimm story; but, with the references furnished by
Köhler-Bolte and Cosquin, a good beginning towards such a study might
be made. Compare also Rittershaus, No. XXlV and notes; Von Hahn,
No. 6 and notes; Macculloch, 173.

It might be added as an item of some interest that "Juan Tiñoso"
is written as a sequel to another story of widespread popularity,
"The Story of Prince Oliveros and Princess Armenia in the Kingdom of
England, and that of Prince Artos and Princess Blanca, who were the
Father and Mother of Don Juan Tiñoso in the Kingdom of Valencia." This
tale of Oliveros and Artos is directly derived from a Spanish romance
of chivalry, and is one form of the "Grateful Dead" type (see Gerould,
"The Grateful Dead," FLS 1907).


TALE 37


The Woman and her Coles Plant.

Narrated by José Hilario of Batangas, who says that the tale is common
among the Tagalogs, especially among the people living in the city
of Batangas.

One summer afternoon I saw several men talking to one another. They
seemed to be lively and enjoying themselves, for they had finished
their work for the day. I went towards them; and, upon coming within
earshot, I found out that they were telling tales to one another. The
following was one of the stories I heard that afternoon:--

Once there lived a very poor woman. She lived practically by begging,
but sometimes she got money with which to buy rice by selling small
vegetables in the market. She had a little garden, and one day planted
some seeds. Out of one of these seeds there grew up a plant which we
call coles. [91] This plant grew very fast, and in a few months it
reached the sky.

Out of curiosity, one day the woman began to climb the plant. When she
was assured that it was strong, she kept on climbing, and did not stop
until she reached the sky. There she called to St. Peter, and asked
him to give her a magic wand from which she could ask anything she
wished. St. Peter gave her what she asked for, but told her not to
disturb him again. Then she descended, and went down so quickly that
she almost hurt herself. When she reached her little hut, she at once
asked the wand for food. Immediately there appeared a table on which
was the best food in the world. When she had finished eating, she
commanded the table to disappear, and it disappeared instantly. Now
she became very proud on account of her wonderful possession. She
did not recognize her friends any more.

One day an archbishop arrived in the town in which she was living,
and all the bells were rung in his honor. She then became very angry,
and wondered why the bells were not rung for her whenever she passed
in front of the church. So she went to the tower where the bells were,
and commanded them to toll for her. They began to ring, but she was
struck on the head and was knocked senseless. When she recovered,
she hastened home, and began to climb the plant to ask St. Peter for
another gift; but, before she had covered one-half the distance to
the sky, the plant broke, and she was killed by her fall. Thus she
was punished for her vanity.


Notes.

This story is a sort of exemplum of the sin of pride and avarice. In
this respect it is connected in idea with Grimm's story of "The
Fisherman and his Wife" (No. 19). In its method and machinery, again,
it belongs to the "Jack and the Beanstalk" cycle, the main feature of
which is a magic plant which grows rapidly until it reaches the sky
and enables its owner to climb to the upper regions and secure magic
articles. Macculloch devotes a whole chapter (XVI) to the discussion
of this cycle, and cites many folk-tales turning on the incident
of the magic plant reaching from earth to heaven (see especially
pp. 434-435). Brief, and lacking in detail though our story is, it is
nevertheless interesting as a combination of incidents from the two
cycles just mentioned; and in its combination it shows, I believe,
that it has been derived from some southern European Märchen,--such a
one, perhaps, as the following from Normandy (given in Köhler-Bolte,
102-103), the story of poor Misère and his ever-dissatisfied wife:--

Misère meets Christ and St. Peter, and begs from them. Christ gives him
a bean, and tells him to be satisfied with it. Misère goes home with
his gift, and sticks the bean in the hearth inside his hut. Straightway
a plant grows out of the bean, and rapidly pushes its way up through
the chimney. The next day its top is entirely out of sight. The wife
now orders Misère to find out if there are any beans on it ready
to be picked. He climbs up the plant, and, since he finds no pods,
continues higher and higher, until he finds himself before a large
golden house. This house is Paradise. St. Peter opens the door for
him, and in answer to his request promises him that he will find at
home food and drink. The next day Misère's wife gives her husband no
rest until he again climbs up to Paradise and asks St. Peter for a
new house. Some days later Misère is again forced to visit St. Peter
and ask him to make him and his wife king and queen. The saint fulfils
this wish likewise, but warns Misère against coming any more. In brief,
however, Misère's wife is still unsatisfied, and even wishes to become
the Holy Virgin and her husband to be made God himself. When Misère,
with this request, comes again to Paradise, St. Peter angrily sends
him away; and the poor man finds on earth his old hut and everything
else just as it was in the first place.


Köhler (ibid., p. 103) says that probably the heaven-reaching plant
did not originally belong to this story of the poor man's proud wife,
and that it was probably taken over from the English folk-tale of
"Jack and the Beanstalk." Bolte and Polívka, in their notes to Grimm,
No. 19 (1 : 147), observe: "It can easily be seen that these stories
(i.e., the variants of the 'Fisherman and his Wife') fall into two
groups. In the one, which is particularly widespread among the Germanic
and Slavic peoples, but is also found in France and Spain, a captive
goblin in the form of a fish grants his captor three or more wishes;
among the French and Italians, on the other hand, it is usually God
or the door-keeper of heaven who grants the same wishes to a poor
man who reaches Paradise by means of a bean-stalk. This beanstalk
here may have originated from the story of 'Jack and the Beanstalk'
or from the 'lying-story,' Grimm No. 112." In a French folk-tale
given by Carnoy (Romania, 8 : 250), "La Tige de Fève," the husband
plants a bean which he has received from a beggar, and climbs up the
stalk to heaven. When he asks for his last wish, he plunges down to
earth. This story, it will be seen, resembles ours in its tragic
conclusion, although the protagonist, as in the Normandy version,
is a man instead of a woman. The fact that in our story no husband is
mentioned counts for little, as practically all the exempla of this
type are directed against woman's vanity; and the woman's case in our
story illustrates the punishment for that vanity, or pride. There
appears to be recorded no Spanish story containing the insatiable
wife and the heaven-reaching plant. It seems reasonable to conclude,
therefore, that our folk-tale was derived from the French or Italian,
and probably through the medium of the clergy.


TALE 38


A Negrito Slave.

Narrated by Jesus de la Rama, a Visayan from Valladolid, Negros
Occidental.

Once upon a time there were three princes who owned a Negrito
slave. Although he was called a slave, he was not really one: he was
only nominally a slave; for the princes, especially the youngest, whom
he loved most, treated him kindly. One striking characteristic of this
Negrito was that his grinning was like that of a monkey; and he often
grinned, and grinned without cause. He would often follow his young
master when he went out for a walk; and he had a suit similar to the
prince's, so that, when they were out on the street, they looked very
much alike. The only difference between them was that he was black,
and the prince was white. Yet he owned a ring, a charm which had been
given him by a woman for saving her from the hands of a robber. This
ring gave him power to call for anything he wanted; and this was the
reason, doubtless, why he was treated with kindness by his masters.

In a neighboring land there was a king who had a beautiful
daughter. This princess wanted to marry. She was so desirous
of having a companion, that she could not sleep day or night,
meditating on how she could have a husband that would suit both
herself and her father. At last, won over by her many entreaties,
the king proclaimed to all the world that his daughter would marry
any one who had a handsome appearance, and who could answer his three
difficult questions. Those who came to the court and were unable to
answer the questions of the king were to lose their lives.

The three princes were all handsome. The two elder brothers tried
to answer the king's questions, but lost their lives. The youngest
remained, and, although he wanted to try, he was sure that he would
fail too. The Negrito determined to help him. By means of his ring he
was able to make his skin white. He also got a mask that was exactly
like the face of his young master. Then he dressed himself to resemble
the prince, and went to the court of the king. The king said to him,
"Will you have your head cut off, too?" He answered, "Yes, if I cannot
answer your questions; but let us see!"

"All right," said the king. Then he asked, "Who owns this kingdom?"

The prince answered, "God owns this kingdom." The king was surprised
at his bold reply. However, he could not say that it was not God's,
for that would be untrue: therefore he could not compel the prince
to answer that it was his, the king's. The next question was this:
"How much am I worth?"

The prince answered, "You are not worth more than thirty pieces of
silver." The king was furious when he heard this, and said that,
if the prince could not give a good reason for his insulting words,
he would be put to death instantly.

"Yes, yes!" said the Negrito. "Our Saviour was sold for that much:
therefore you, who are inferior to the Saviour, cannot be worth more
than he was sold for." The people at the court were astounded by
this bold answer; and they murmured to one another, "The prince is
wise. He is wise, indeed!"

"Well," said the king, "answer this third question, and you shall
be married to my daughter: Can you drink all the fresh water in
the world?"

"Yes," said the prince.

"Well, then," said the king, "drink it."

"But here," answered the prince, "in many parts of the world the
water of the ocean mixes with the fresh water: so, before I drink,
you must separate the fresh water from the salt." As the king was
unable to do this, he acknowledged himself vanquished.

"All right," said the king. "To-morrow come here for the wedding." The
Negrito hastened home, and told his young master all that had
happened. The prince gave him five thousand pesetas, and promised him
that he would urge the princess to give her consent to the marriage
of the Negrito with her maid of honor. The next morning the prince
and the princess were married, and the following day the Negrito
received the maid of honor for his wife.


Notes.

Like the preceding, this story was doubtless imported from Europe,
and probably through the medium of the religious. The occasion for the
three questions, as well as the questions themselves, varies widely
in the many different forms of the story; but the relationship among
the members of the cycle is unmistakable. A general outline that would
embrace most of the variants is this: A certain person, on penalty of
losing his head if he fails, is required to give satisfactory answers
to three (or four) difficult questions; a friend of the contestant,
who resembles him, wears the other's clothes, and answers the questions
ingeniously, thus saving his friend's life and winning a considerable
reward for him and himself. The fullest bibliography of this cycle
is that given by Oesterley in his edition of Pauli's "Schimpf und
Ernst" (Stuttgart, 1866), p. 479. For other references to the group
of stories, see Grimm, No. 152, and his notes; Rittershaus, 404-408
(No. CXV, "Der König und der Bischof"); Köhler-Bolte, 82 (on Moncaut's
French story "Le Meunier et le Marquis"), 267 (on J. F. Campbell's
No. 50), and 492 (on the Turkish Nasreddin's 70th jest).

The opening of our story is like that of many of the tales in the
"Bride Wager" group, in which the youngest of three brothers, after
the two older have lost their lives, risks his. Compare, for instance,
the European variants cited in our notes to No. 21. This opening,
which does not belong to our present cycle, was doubtless attached
to the story of the three questions in the Islands themselves. The
combination does not appear to have been very happily effected,
although it is easy to see the basis for the association (cf. Von
Hahn's formula 24 and bibliography). Very little distinction is made
between the good qualities of the three brothers, and the Negrito's
determination to help the last only is not motivated. The Negrito
himself, however, is necessary to the story,--he takes the place of the
miller in most of the European forms,--and he had to be fitted in as
best he could. The magic ring of the slave, with the aid of which he
is able to make himself look exactly like his master, does not appear
in any of the other variants that I know of. In many of the European
forms the occasion of the questions is this: A king or a nobleman
becomes angry with a priest or bishop, and threatens him with death
if he cannot answer within a definite time three questions that are
put to him. As the chief interest of the story is in the solving of
the riddles or problems, it is easy to see how there might be a wide
variation in setting if the story passed around much by word of mouth.

The questions themselves are curious. Here are some of those found in
the European versions: (1) How much water is there in the sea? (2)
How many days have passed since Adam lived? (3) Where is the centre
of the earth? (4) How far is it from earth to heaven? (5) What is the
breadth of heaven? (6) What is the exact value of the king and his
golden crown? (7) How long a time would it take to ride around the
whole world? (8) What is the king thinking of this very moment? (9)
How far is fortune removed from misfortune? (10) How far is it from
East to West? (11) How heavy is the moon? (12) How deep is water?

Some of the answers to these questions are clever; others are only less
stupid than the persons who asked the questions. The solutions to the
twelve just given are: (1) "A tun."--"How can you prove that?"--"Just
order all the streams which flow into the sea to stand still." This
reply is not unlike the counter-demand to the third question in our
story. (2) "Seven; and when they come to an end, they begin again." (3)
"Where my church stands: let your servants measure with a cord, and
if there is the breadth of a blade of grass more on one side than on
the other, I have lost my church." (4) "Just so far as a man's voice
can easily be heard." (5) "A thousand fathoms and a thousand ells:
then take away the sun and moon and all the stars, and press all
together, and it will be no broader." (6) This question is answered
exactly as the second in out story. (7) "If you set out with the
Sun and ride with him, you will get around the earth in twenty-four
hours." (8) "The king thinks I'm an abbot, and I'm only a shepherd
(or miller)." With this question and answer compare the last task
in our No. 25. (9) "Only one night, for yesterday I was a shepherd,
and to-day I am an abbot." (10) "A day's journey." (11) "A quarter
(of a pound): if the king doesn't believe it, let him weigh the moon
himself." (12) "A stone's throw."

The method of answering the questions asked in this cycle of
stories, and the obscure origin of the clever substitute, form a
direct connection, I believe, between this group and the "Clever
Lass" cycle. Not only do we find in both the situation of a person
out of favor required to answer difficult riddles, and the task
assumed voluntarily by some one humbler but more clever than he,
but even some of the questions themselves, and the same style of
answers, are found in both cycles. For example, compare questions and
answers 1, 3, 5, 7, above, with tasks 1, 2, 4, in the notes to our
No. 7. In Grimm, No. 152, "The Shepherd Boy," the hero is asked three
questions impossible to answer,--How many drops of water are there
in the sea? How many stars are in the heavens? How many seconds has
eternity? He gets out of his difficulty just as the "Clever Lass"
gets out of hers,--by making equally impossible counter-demands,
or else giving answers that cannot be proved incorrect.


TALE 39


Alberto and the Monsters.

Narrated by Pacita Cordero of Pagsanjan, Laguna. She says, "This
story is common among the Tagalogs. It was told to me by my nurse
when I was a little girl."

Once there was a king in Casiguran named Luis. King Luis had three
beautiful daughters, but the youngest was the fairest of all. One
day the three princesses went to the orchard to amuse themselves. It
happened that on that day the wind blew very hard, and they were swept
away. The king felt very sad over the loss of his daughters; and he
issued proclamations in all parts of his kingdom, saying that any
one who could find his daughters within three days would be allowed
to choose one of the three for his wife.

At that time there was also in the neighboring kingdom of Sinucuan
a king who had a brave son named Alberto. When Alberto heard of the
matter, he went to the king, and said that he would look for his lost
daughters. King Luis accepted his offer. Prince Alberto now began
his search. He walked and walked until he came to a large forest
where he found two boys fighting. "What are you fighting about?" he
said. The one answered that the other boy was taking his boot away
from him. Alberto then said to the other boy, "Why don't you give
the boy his boot? The boot is old." The boy said that the boot, if
worn by any one, would carry him to whatever place he wanted to go,
provided he kicked the ground. To settle the contest between the
two, Prince Alberto took the boot from them, and said, "Go over by
that large tree, and the one who can run here first shall have the
boot." While the boys were walking towards the tree, the prince put on
the boot and kicked the ground. He was at once carried far away. When
the boys got back to the original place, Alberto had disappeared.

At the place where the boot carried him Alberto found two young men
fighting over a rusty key. He said to them, "Why do you fight for
such an old rusty key? You are not children: you are young men. You
ought to be ashamed of yourselves." The elder of them answered that
the key, if it were knocked against a stone, would open the stone,
however hard it might be. The prince took the key from them, and said,
"Go to a certain place, and face back here. The one to reach here first
shall have the key." The two agreed, and started away. While they were
gone, Alberto kicked the ground, and the boot carried him to another
place. When the young men came back, the prince was no longer there.

This time Prince Alberto found two old men fighting. He asked them the
same question as he had asked the others; and one of them answered,
"If that hat is worn by any one, his body will be invisible; he will
not be seen." The prince secured the hat from these old men by telling
them the same thing he had told the others. While they were running
their race, he put the hat on and kicked the ground.

The boot now brought him before a huge rock which had a small hole in
it. Alberto put the key in the hole, and the rock suddenly opened. When
he entered it, he found a street leading to a palace. He went up to
the palace; and when he entered the door, a beautiful princess met
him. Before Alberto could say a word, the princess told him to go away;
for she said that a seven-headed monster was living with her. "If
that is the case," said the prince, "show me his sword, and I will
kill him." The princess pointed to the sword, which was hanging on
the wall. The prince went to get it, but it was too heavy for him: he
could not even move it. Then the princess gave him a pail of water to
drink. She said that that was the water the monster always drank before
touching his sword. The prince drank the water, and then sat down on an
iron chair, and the chair broke. The princess now told him that he was
strong. Soon steps were heard on the stairs. Prince Alberto put on his
hat, and stood by the door, sword in hand. When the monster came up,
he thrust one of his heads through a window near the door, and said,
"I smell something human!" The prince cut off that head. "Somebody
must be here!" cried the monster; but the princess answered that there
was no one there with her. The prince then cut off the monster's heads
one after another until only the main one was left. The monster waved
his arms, but he could not grasp anything. At last he entered the
door. The prince cut off his last head, and he fell dead.

Inexpressible was the joy of the princess when she saw the monster
lying dead on the floor. She embraced the prince, and thanked him for
her deliverance. Then she told him how she happened to be there. When
the prince knew that she was one of the daughters of King Luis, he
said to her that she was the very one for whom he was looking. The
princess then told the prince about her two sisters, who were kept
prisoners in the same way. So Prince Alberto left her, saying that
he would go save her two sisters and then return.

He went outside and kicked the ground, and was brought before another
huge rock. He entered it, and another princess met him. After asking
him a few questions, she told him to go away, for the ten-headed
monster who was living with her would soon return. But the prince
said that he did not fear anything, and he told her to give him the
monster's sword. Before he could lift the sword he had to drink two
pails of water, which the princess gave him. Then he sat down on
an iron bed, and the bed broke in two, so he thought he was strong
enough. When the ten-headed monster came home, Alberto killed him
in the same way he had killed the other. The princess rejoiced, and
told the prince that he had saved her life. Then she embraced him and
thanked him. Her joy was increased when Alberto told her that he had
saved her younger sister. She begged him to save her eldest sister,
who was in the next rock. The prince answered that that was what he
had come for. So he left her without further talk, for it was already
the night of the second day.

He then kicked the ground, and found himself in front of another huge
rock, which he opened. Here the third princess greeted him. After
asking him several questions as to how he had come there, she begged
him to go away, for she said that it was time for the twelve-headed
monster to come home. But he did not go away. He asked for the sword
of the monster, but of course he could not move it. So the princess
gave him three pails of water to drink. When the monster came home,
the prince cut his heads off one after another, as he had done to the
other two. The main head was now the only one left. Then the prince
removed his hat, and presented himself before the monster, who thought
that he could easily kill him, now that he could see him. He said,
"Wait, I'll go and get my sword." But he could not find it, for the
prince had already taken it. When he returned, he said to the prince,
"You have my sword." He had scarcely spoken these words when Alberto
cut off his remaining head. When Alberto told the princess that he had
already saved her two sisters, she jumped with joy and embraced him.

Alberto now took the princess in his arms, kicked the ground, and
they were brought to the palace of the second sister. Then the prince
kicked the ground again, and all three were carried to the palace of
the youngest sister. But there was no time for delay, as the third
day was nearly gone. So he quickly brought all three princesses back
to their father's kingdom. When they arrived at the palace, King
Luis was overjoyed to see his daughters again. He told the prince to
decide which one he wanted for a wife. While the three princesses
were talking about their life with the monsters, Alberto managed,
without being noticed, to give his handkerchief to the youngest.

The next day Alberto called at the palace. "Have you decided whom you
are going to take for a wife?" said the king. The prince answered,
"The one who has a handkerchief just like mine shall be my wife." Now,
all three were anxious to have the brave prince for their husband, so
they hastened to their rooms to get their handkerchiefs. The two older
sisters first presented theirs, but neither resembled Alberto's. Then
the youngest showed the one which Alberto had given her the day
before, and so she was married to him. For three days banquets of
thanksgiving were held, and the marriage festivities lasted for two
days. The other two princesses were also married to kings' sons.

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